


Dorks of a feather

by Riggy_Minus



Series: Hereditary [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Qrow cameo, Ruby gets really stressed because she's new to this all, Yang's mentioned, a little angst in chapter 2, based off one obscure bit of RWBY #4 from the DC comics, just a bit, just a couple of dorks hanging out, where Yang gets a note from Qrow about Ruby spending her first lunch feeding chickens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24015598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riggy_Minus/pseuds/Riggy_Minus
Summary: It's Ruby's first day at Beacon Academy, and things could honestly be going better. After Ozpin's speech at orientation, Yang returned to hanging out with her friends as the hopeful students rushed to the school's cafeteria, and Ruby spends her time alone feeding chickens at Beacon's farm, when her newest friend finds her.
Relationships: Jaune Arc & Ruby Rose
Series: Hereditary [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1740427
Comments: 10
Kudos: 64





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ahhhh! It's my first time writing fanfiction in a long time, about eight years now, and the first time I've written for RWBY. It's sure to be a bit rough, so please leave criticism if you have some!

Today was, well, bad, so far, at least in Ruby's opinion. It was hard enough just being nervous about being bumped ahead two years and attending Beacon early, but ever since the airship ride things had been going downhill. First, a boy, Jaune, Ruby reminded herself, threw up on Yang's shoes. Apparently he had motion sickness, so at least he had some sympathy from Ruby, but it was still a pretty big warning of what would come.

Speaking of, the first thing that happened after getting off the airship, Yang ditched her! It wasn't like _Ruby_ got to bring her friends along to Beacon but sure, it's totally fine to abandon your sister on a crowded campus of intimidating people. Then she ran into someone, almost literally! Into her luggage, anyways. The yelling and explosion that followed just added more onto an already stressful day.

At least she made a kinda sorta friend with Jaune, after he helped her out of the crater the mean girl’s Dust left her buried in. She hoped he was her friend, but it was hard to say, they hadn't really spoken all that long, just introducing themselves and showing off their weapons. Even if it wasn’t fancy, Ruby had to admit she admired his sword, the idea of a weapon being passed down through a family for almost a century was amazing!

So now she was here, feeding chickens, now that Yang had gone off to have lunch with her friends following Professor Ozpin’s speech. At least _they_ were friendly, happy to accept food from her as she sat alone at the school’s farm. Honestly, she was a bit shocked to see Beacon had a farm, but she supposed they would want to locally source what they could, and it wasn’t important anyways, she had chickens to feed!

Ruby couldn’t hide the smile from her face as the birds seemed all too happy to stay around and accept feed from her, it was always nice to just watch something peaceful like this. It reminded her a bit of all the raccoons that would stay around their house as a kid, they still came from time to time, but it seemed likely to her that her dad wasn’t as big a fan of them as he once was. 

Even if she was alone, it was still more comfortable than being in the cafeteria, with all those eyes on her, people wondering if she was too young to be here, like that girl, Weiss, if she recalled correctly, had accused. It didn’t help that the tall redheaded boy in armor had pushed her aside when she was in line. Her face felt warm just thinking of how embarrassed she was about it, and Ruby turned her eyes back to the chickens, smiling softly. 

“Oh! Hey, Ruby!”

Ruby froze, shocked to hear someone call out to her, slowly turning her gaze toward the sound of her name, and looking at Jaune Arc. It was kind of a relief, to just have him, instead of Yang and her posse. “Hey Jaune!” She squeaked out, a little embarrassed to be found hanging out with a bunch of animals, even if Yang always said there was nothing to be ashamed about. “What’re you doing here?”

“I was just finishing up lunch and wanted to take a walk.” He explained with a nervous chuckle, rubbing at the back of his neck, and Ruby got the impression that he probably hadn’t gotten to enjoy much of his lunch either. “I’m surprised to see you here, that is, at the farm. I figured you’d be with your sister.” The one she’d ditched him for earlier, he didn’t need to say it for her to feel a bit bad about it. 

“Oh, I don’t really do crowds. Like, at all.” She mumbles, offering a halfhearted smile as she turns her focus towards the chickens. “Yang has a lot of friends, but I’ve only had a few, a few that were really mine, anyways. A lot of people I thought were my friends at Signal just wanted to get close to me so they could hit on my sister.” 

“Yeah, that sounds familiar.” Ruby gave a rather perplexed expression, which spurred Jaune into explaining further. “I have a few older sisters, and all of them are really pretty. I had guys get close to me back in Domremy who were only really interested in getting close to my sisters. It was really rough, probably why I didn’t really mind r- leaving home, to become a Huntsman.”

Ruby gave a reassuring smile, scooting over on the bench so that he could sit down. “I promise not to try hitting on your sisters, then.” She teases, patting the space next to her to indicate she wanted him to sit down. “Do you want to help feed the chickens?”

“Oh, sure! I used to do this at home from time to time, though really it was more Indy’s thing than mine.” Jaune commented as he took the seat beside her, reaching into the bag she had for feed. Ruby’s face scrunched a bit in confusion at the mention of “Indy,” causing Jaune to elaborate. “Indy - Indigo - is one of my younger sisters, she’s about fourteen and a half, now. She was good with animals, but I don’t know if she was ever as good as you seem to be, these chickens are really calm.”

“I, uh, I think they’re just used to people.” Ruby didn’t like to feel singled out for how the animals seemed to calm around her, and she was fairly sure that the chickens were supposed to be relaxed with how many different students might come to visit. “Indy, though, huh? I wonder if it’s nice having younger siblings instead of being the younger one.”

“Well, I guess it depends.” Jaune chuckled, giving her a slight smirk. “I’m still one of the younger ones, and my little sisters can be real brats sometimes.” 

“Well, I’m sure that they had a good reason to be.” Ruby insisted, sticking her tongue out playfully. A few minutes passed in relative silence, save the clucking of the chickens, as Ruby and Jaune passed out more feed. “Thanks for hanging out with me.” Ruby finally mumbled, offering a nervous smile.

“Hey, it’s no problem. You’d do the same for me, we’re friends, right?” Ruby looked a bit shocked at the question, something Jaune seemed to pick up as he started to back out of what he said. “I mean, if you want to be! I totally get if you don’t want to be friends with someone like me.”

“Yeah.” Ruby gave him a cheerful smile, feeling suddenly relieved at his suggestion. “We are friends. It’s, well, it’s nice to have friends of my own.” She mumbled, only to squeak in surprise as he gave a light ruffling of her hair. 

“Sorry, you just reminded me a lot of my sister when she starts feeling down.” Jaune gave a sheepish grin, scratching at the back of his head. “She always seems to get her mind out of a funk when we mess with her hair, so I figured it was worth a try.”

Ruby stuck her tongue out at Jaune, but offered a smile nonetheless afterwards. “I don’t think that’d help me much, but I’d warn against doing it to Yang. My sister _hates_ when people mess with her hair. She tore down a nightclub earlier this year when one of the bouncers messed her hair up.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, then,” Jaune nodded, laughing nervously. “My big sis Saphron can get pretty out of shape when people mess with her hair, but I don’t think she’s torn down any nightclubs.”

“Well, Yang’s pretty unique in how much she loves her hair.” Ruby insisted, chuckling at Jaune’s comparison. “I don’t really care too much about doing things with my hair, I just like it nice and simple, like it is. Yang’s always getting some new fancy hair product to use in her hair and I just use the same stuff I’ve used since I was a kid. I don’t have to worry much about the tearing but I use no-tear anyways.” Ruby shut her mouth, realizing she’d gone off on a tangent like she had when they were chatting before orientation, cheeks warming with embarrassment until she realized he didn’t seem to care. 

Instead, a befuddled look grew on Jaune’s face, a mix of surprise and horror. “Wait, you mean to tell me that it was no _tear_? I thought it meant no tear, like if I got any in my eyes!”

At that, Ruby couldn’t stop herself from bursting into laughter. “Oh my gosh, you’re kidding, right? There’s no way that you haven’t gotten any in your eyes in all the time you’ve been using it!”

“I just, uh,” Jaune’s cheeks were pink with embarrassment, “I thought that I was weird for tearing up when it got in my eyes! Don’t laugh, I’m serious!”

“Sorry, sorry, I just wasn’t expecting to hear something like that.” Ruby gave Jaune a wide grin, playfully nudging his arm. “Well, at least now you know for the future, right?”

Jaune gave a pout that could’ve matched one of Ruby’s, before relenting and nodding. “Yeah, I guess so. It’s just weird to have something I believed all my life be wrong, but I should probably be glad it was just about shampoo, and not anything important.”

“Ha, yeah! Can you imagine not knowing something important about becoming a huntsman instead? That’d be awkward!” Ruby joked, a cheerful smile across her face, her attention being drawn away at the sound of clucking from one of the nearby chickens. “Aww, you’re a cutie, aren’t you little lady?” She insisted, picking up the chicken, who seemed fairly content to be handled by the girl. After a moment of glee, she turned to Jaune, holding out the chicken. “You try! I’m sure you’ll see that she’s just as calm for you.”

Though he was clearly reluctant, Ruby was glad to see Jaune acquiesce to her request, taking the clucking chicken into his arms, where he held it awkwardly. “Are you sure this is okay?” He asked, his teeth clenched in what she assumed was nerves about the chicken reacting poorly to him. 

“I’m sure!” Ruby nodded, grinning as the chicken seemed content to remain in Jaune’s arms for the next few minutes, before he placed it back on the ground. “There, see! It isn’t just me!”

Jaune gave a supportive chuckle, grabbing more feed to give the chickens, before looking up to the horizon, finding it starting to color with reds and oranges. “How long have we been here?”

“Not that long, I don’t think, but I should probably go find Yang. She might get the wrong idea if I’m gone for too long.” Ruby announced, rising from the bench and giving a quick stretch of her arms. “Thank you again for hanging out with me Jaune, I was feeling pretty lonely.”

“Aw, sheesh, it was no problem, Ruby. Anytime for a friend.” Jaune said, giving a dorky thumbs up. 

As the two wrapped up, a crow perched on a nearby tree cocked its head, before giving out a croak and taking flight, flying off towards Beacon’s tower. 


	2. Dorks of a Feather (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A week of school has passed for Ruby since she was assigned leader of Team RWBY, and it's a lot harder than anything she'd imagined she'd be doing at Beacon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a follow up I decided to post at the suggestion of a few friends. There'll be follow up pieces, but they won't be part of Dorks of a Feather.

The past week had been, in a word, stressful. After orientation day, the last person Ruby wanted to deal with was Weiss, so, of course, just her luck that she would end up partnered with the snow haired girl _who was definitely shorter than Ruby when she wasn’t wearing lady stilts!_ It was nice to have Yang and Blake on her team, but in all honesty, the thought of leading them was still daunting, even after Ozpin had tried to encourage her on their first proper day of classes. 

Weiss might be doing better than she had, but there was still a thick layer of haughtiness around her and there was no way that Ruby could ask her partner to accompany her to feed chickens. A rich girl like that doing something so “uncouth?” Yeah right. She might’ve asked Yang or Blake, but she couldn’t find either of them right now, it was the weirdest thing, and so here she was all alone at the farm again. 

Twilight had just begun, the sky a beautiful shade of reds, yellows and oranges that reminded Ruby a little of the few memories she had of visiting the Forever Fall with her mother as a child. She couldn’t recall exactly what they did there, but it was important. As she sat down on the familiar bench, a soft smile graced Ruby’s face, the teen looking out at the chickens that began to gather near her. She still wasn’t sure why they seemed so at ease with her, but they certainly were eager to be fed now, and she wasn’t going to complain. 

Yes, it was technically the time just after classes had ended when it would be best to go to the cafeteria, but she didn’t want to deal with Cardin again. The brutish jerk kept doing little things, like shoving ahead in line, and it was starting to really annoy Ruby. It certainly hadn’t helped that she was struggling to wrangle her team together to eat at the same time, and if she wasn’t with them, the crowds of people in the cafeteria started to get to Ruby. She always felt like they were whispering just out of earshot, judging and doubting her. A rational part of her knew that wasn’t true, but she just couldn’t shake the feeling.

Ruby readjusted her smile, which had slowly faded to a frown as her anxieties began to surface, shaking her head as she brushed her thumb against the scattering rose broach her mother had left her, her other hand reaching into the bag of feed and tossing some out to the crowd of birds. A few minutes passed by, Ruby occasionally tossing out food, sticking her thumb at the notches in her broach, breathing softly as she did her best to keep a clear mind. 

Was the reason Cardin always shoved her the same as why Weiss never wanted to listen to anything Ruby suggested? Was she not really good enough for this- too young and inexperienced to play in the field of adults. It certainly felt that whenever she entered Doctor Oobleck’s class, or Professor Peach's, or anything other than maybe Grimm Studies. It was easy to forget that she'd skipped two years ahead and now she found things rather intimidating. Teachers expected more, tolerated less. Maybe it would have been better if she’d turned down Ozpin when he-

“Hey, Ruby!”

The girl jumped, startled as her train of thought was emptied, almost as surprised by the sound of Jaune’s voice as she was by the dampness she now realized was on her cheeks. “Huh?” She looked over to him, sure to rub her face clean with her sleeve as she did so. It wouldn’t do to bring the mood down just because she was having trouble adjusting to life at Beacon, especially when Jaune’s team had been so much better than hers when it came to listening. The few times she had relented and eaten in the cafeteria when her team wasn’t joining her, she always sat with Team JNPR, and none of them seemed to mind her presence. “Hi there, Jaune. I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“Ah, yeah, well, Nora noticed you were walking this way all on your own.” Jaune explained, scratching at the back of his neck again as he offered a sheepish grin. “I figured that maybe we could feed the chickens for a bit again, and then we’d all get food again.”

“Oh! Sure!” Ruby’s expression brightened as she scooted aside, happy to have some company again as she lingered at the farms. Her free hand hovered over her mother’s broach for a moment, before shifting away from it, resting on the bench as she reached in the bag for more feed, tossing it out to the chickens before nudging it Jaune’s way. 

“So, where is everyone?” Jaune inquired, Ruby flinching a little as he unintentionally struck a raw nerve. He didn’t seem to notice as she retreated a little further into her cloak, instead gathering more feed, leaning down as he held a full hand out to a few chicks that had squirmed their way forward. 

“Oh.” She hadn’t meant for her voice to crack, but it did, and she felt his eyes boring into her in curiosity as she pulled her hood up. “They- they had other things they wanted to do. More important things, I guess.” 

“More important than spending time with you?” Jaune sounded a bit offended at that, much to Ruby’s surprise. “That’s just stupid! Why wouldn’t they want to spend time with you?”

“Because I’m me!” Ruby’s cheeks flared with embarrassment as soon as she blurted that out, frustrated tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m dorky, worthless Ruby who no one ever likes to hang out with, unless it’ll get them an in with her sister! No one ever wants to talk to me, or hang out! I say I have friends at Signal but they don’t even write back! I-”

“Ruby!” She stopped abruptly, mouth shutting as she looked up at Jaune, her cheeks damp again with tears, struggling to keep from losing further control. He gave her a warm smile as she hiccuped, ruffling the top of her hood. “I don’t know about all those lousy people at Signal, but I do know about you, and I’d say you’re pretty cool.”

“Really?” Her voice felt so quiet, she hated it, that twisting feeling of shame in her gut whenever she acted this way. That’s why she tried to avoid thinking about it, it was just better that way. 

“Of course,” the sincerity in his voice was unexpected, but after years of people sending buttered words to try and get close to her sister through her, it was a welcome change. “Ruby, you’re here two years earlier than everyone else, and yet you still fight like one of the top huntresses our year. You came up with a plan to kill that Nevermore and the whole school saw it.”

“But Weiss was-”

“Weiss wasn’t the one who came up with the plan or got three other girls to follow her,” Jaune’s voice was resolute as he gave Ruby a poke on the forehead. “You were. You managed to get them to work together and you slew an Elder Nevermore. You were personally selected by Professor Ozpin, not only to move ahead two years, but to lead a team of Huntresses. Of course you’re cool!”

Ruby felt her cheeks warming at the praise, a bit embarrassed and unused to the sort of support from someone outside her family. “Thanks, Jaune.” She mumbled with a small sniffle, rubbing her nose before giving a wide smile. “Do you want to stay here a little longer before we go to the cafeteria?”

"Yeah, sure, if you want." The way he spoke was like it wasn't even a question to him, and Ruby didn't really understand. Had she really been so devoid of proper friends that she didn't recognize how they acted? Or was he unusual among friends? "Hey, do you want to hear a story? I can… I can kind of relate to feeling like I'm not good enough, and when those feelings got bad, my big sister Saphron would always try to cheer me up with a story.”

“I don’t mind, if you don’t.” Ruby mumbled, offering some chicken feed to the impatient birds, the Huntress and Huntsman trainees having forgotten their little charges as her anxiety had boiled over. A soft smile grew across her face as she carefully fluffed the feathers of one of the chickens eating from her hand. 

“Well, the story starts about 100 years ago, in the decade before the great war,” Jaune started, relaxing a little into his spot on the bench. “My great-great-grandfather, Caius Arc, was a humble farmer when he met a beautiful young woman at the river beside his home. He told her his name, and asked if she needed anything of him.

“She declined, though she was glad he did not press on from that, instead telling him to call her “Gwyn” before leaving. He thought nothing of it, until again, one week later, he came across her again. For week on week for near a year, he met her once a week, and though she came to know much about him, he never learned much of her, not even her full name. 

“One autumn day, when Caius turned 16, he returned to the river to find the woman he had grown so used to speaking to, and instead, he was met by a regal woman of certain nobility. Only after some minutes did Caius realize that he was looking at Gwen, shock painting his face. ‘My love,’ she spoke to him, his heart breaking as he heard those words, ‘I fear this may be the last time we meet. My father has fallen ill, and I must take my place in court.’ As she spoke, the two found themselves crying, and met for a first and last embrace.

“Caius was shocked to find that the woman he had been spending his days with was none other than the Crown Princess Gwendolen of Vale. Determined to see her again, he gathered his things, said goodbye to his parents, and set off for the Kingdom’s capital, that he might become a Knight of the Crown, and have the chance to see her once again.

“It was grueling work, but Caius didn’t give up, and in five years, he found himself no longer some meager guard, but instead vying in a grand tourney, the winner of which would be granted a chance at Knighthood. He fought tirelessly and found himself in the final bout, yet before the battle began, the Queen-to-be stepped forward, beside an unfamiliar man, and announced her engagement to him. Caius was heartbroken, and as the bout started, he barely had the will to fight back.

“He was thrown to his knee, struggling to stand against his foe, when he caught glimpse of Gwendolen, and looking into his eyes, she smiled: so invigorated by this show of her support, my great-great-grandfather struck true against his foe, shattering both his foe’s weapon and his own. As all were shocked by the show of strength, he charged forward and wrestled his opponent to the ground and was declared champion. He received his knighthood and when the war between kingdoms began, he fought at the king’s side.”

“So what’s the point?” Ruby asked, blinking as her head tilted slightly to the left, a few strands of her bangs falling before her left eye. “He didn’t get to marry Gwendolen in the end, right? So what was the point? If you don’t mind me asking! It’s okay if you do!”

“Well,” Jaune chuckled, ruffling Ruby’s hair. “I suppose, it’s that even if you lose your first chance at love, you can still live a long and proud life. He became a hero, and I’m here, so I’d assume he found someone else he loved in the end! Now come on,” Jaune stood up, offering a hand towards Ruby, “we should go meet the others. No matter what, Team Juniper is always happy to have you with us, Ruby.”

**Author's Note:**

> The art is from https://rubyrose.tumblr.com/, check them out they draw cute stuff!


End file.
